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Workstations for Revit or Solidworks

Sure, Velocity Micro has a huge following in the pro gaming PC and eSports space, right? That’s where we get much of our media praise, because that’s what gets eyeballs. Some might be surprised to know we are also the premier builder in the Pro Workstation space. In fact, we started out as a builder of systems for CAD design way back in the early 1990’s. It turns out that everybody loves faster computers, and that’s all we do. Architects, Engineers, Animators, Scientists, Money Managers, and Artists rely on Velocity Micro for the fastest workstations for creation, too. Our list of customers in the professional world is staggering, including every major US university, government agencies, military contractors, tech giants, major and smaller studios, and many top architects and engineering firms. The organizations are household names. So let’s dive into the secret formula for the ultimate workstation for Revit or Solidworks as an example.

As a super-simple definition, Revit and Solidworks are both applications used by professionals to design in 2D and 3D. They are targeted at totally different users, but for the sake of this post, let’s leave it at that, because both programs have some similarities in the need for performance in a couple of different ways. Most designers use these programs for creation in 2D and have the program help render that design into a 3D model or view.

Workstations for Design

Our HD60 is available in full ATX and mid-tower chassis.

If you are doing the design work only, and sending the 3D rendering off to another computer, then the fastest solution for you is a PC workstation with the fastest frequency or clock speed. The ProMagix HD60 is roughly based on some gaming technology and tweaks, but’s it’s much more specifically designed for the serious professional. The hot setup currently is the HD60i, configured with the fastest frequency processor currently available, the Intel i9-9900K running 8 cores at 5GHz (and beyond). Pair that with 32GB of super quick Micron Ballistix RAM and a certified Nvidia Quadro P4000 or P5000 graphics card, plus a blistering fast 512GB Samsung 970 Pro SSD and you have the right hardware selected.

But there’s more. We have very specific tuning we perform during the build process to get more out of the processor and tricks with the RAM buffers, along with a host of other tweaks, to highly energize the ProMagix HD60i for industry-leading performance in Revit or Solidworks, as well as many other frequency limited applications for professionals. It’s the blend of pro grade components, meticulous craftsmanship, our proprietary tuning and tweaking, and a system design that runs cool for many years. The additional speed can save dramatic time in your workflow, and the cost/benefit is more productivity (billing hours for you) for a small increase in cost over something not designed for this workload.

Workstations for Rendering

The caveat is if you ALSO render your 3D work on the same workstation, then you need a processor that both designs quickly, but also can render that design locally. For that, additional cores are also needed to perform the rendering quickly, and there is no better choice for this than the ProMagix HD80a with a hulking AMD Threadripper 2900 series CPU. The rest of the system stays similar in configuration to the ProMagix HD60i choices, but you can find the right balance of clock speed to core count within this AMD lineup. The Threadripper 2990WX offers 32 cores and max frequency of 4.2GHz, or trade some cores for frequency with the 2950X, bringing 16 cores at 4.4GHz, or split the difference with the 2970X, 24 cores at 4.3GHz. As you can see, that’s a lot more rendering power, but gives up a bit of frequency.

Choosing the Right Workstation

However you design and render, the HD60i or HD80a are the two workstations we sell most often to the design industry. We have an ultra-lightweight aluminum chassis that’s easy to move around the office and easily service, so the IT staff will love it. We build it with a long list of our secret-sauce tuning that dramatically speeds past a gaming system, and we back it with our award winning in-house tech support and engineering. We build custom systems designed to boost lots of different software suites, so let us know more about your specific demands. If you design with Revit or Solidworks, you should seriously look at the ProMagix HD60i or HD80a.